OFFICIAL RESULTS

CARMEL, Calif. – Leandro Candray placed sixth to lead the Cal Poly Pomona men's cross country team to a runner-up finish at the 2022 CCAA Cross Country Championships Saturday morning at the Palo Corona Cross Country Trail in Carmel.
 
Candray crossed the line in 24:59.1 and became the seventh different Bronco in the last seven CCAA Championships to be the team's top finisher. He came in just 14 seconds back of individual champion Rory Abberton of Chico State; Abberton's winning time was 24:45.1.
 
The Wildcats, placing six runners in the Top 9, captured their 20th straight CCAA title with a team score of 20. The Broncos tallied 55 points and finished ahead of third-place Cal State San Marcos, which scored 105 points.
 
In the field of 76 runners, Candray got as high as fifth place in the race at the six-kilometer split before settling for sixth overall. Ricardo Vargas, meanwhile, placed seventh overall, and actually rose to fourth place at the 5K split before falling back to seventh with a time of 25:03.4. Vincent Sarino took 10th place with a time of 25:12.4 and Daniel Echeveste, who at one point in the race was second overall (at the 3K split), finished 13th with a time of 25:22.5.
 
Candray, Vargas, Sarino and Echeveste all earned All-CCAA awards for their Top 15 finishes. It is the most All-CCAA honors for CPP since 2015. Vargas was also named the CCAA Newcomer of the Year for being the highest-finishing newcomer at the conference this year.
 
Also placing for the Broncos on Saturday were Tom McDonnell (25:43.9; 19th overall), Diego Duran (25:48.9; 21st), Gideon Pichardo (25:58.3; 27th), Chris Razo (26:02.6; 28th), David Flores (26:02.8; 29th) and Francisco Zavaleta (27:05.8; 60th).
 
Nine of the Top 10 finishers were either from Chico State or Cal Poly Pomona; Stanislaus State's Medhane Woldu was the only competitor not from Chico or CPP, as he finished 3rd overall.
 
Cal Poly Pomona will set its sights on the 2022 NCAA Division II West Region Championships in two weeks (Nov. 19) at Amend Park in Billings, Mont. Increasing the course distance to 10,000 meters for the regional, the race will begin at 9:00 am.
 
Bronco Bits

• Saturday marks the 30th meet for head coach Chris Bradford in his fifth season at CPP (six years overall).
• Leandro Candray's time of 24:59.1 was the 20th fastest time in a CCAA Championship meet in program history.
• The second place finish for Cal Poly Pomona is the 13th time the Broncos have earned a runner-up finish since last winning the CCAA title in 1997; it is also the 6th time in the last nine CCAA races CPP has placed second in the team standings.
• Ricardo Vargas becomes the fourth CPP men's cross country student-athlete all-time to be named CCAA Newcomer of the Year, and the first since 2008.

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